1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an apparatus for measuring an activity of autonomic nerve that is capable of evaluating the relation between psychosomatic conditions of a person based on the activity of autonomic nerve consisting of sympathetic nerve and parasympathetic nerve.
2. Prior Art
In the past an activity of autonomic nerve has been studied and various types of measurement techniques have been developed. Among those, there have been proposed a method for evaluating comfortableness obtained from a massage (see TOKUKAI 2000-210290); and an apparatus for evaluating stiffness in the shoulder (see TOKUKAI 2000-166879). Those method and apparatus can objectively evaluate the comfortableness and the stiffness in the shoulder as the psychosomatic condition of a person based on the activities of sympathetic nerve and parasympathetic nerve.
Those method and apparatus in the prior art, however, are simply arranged to one-dimensionally evaluate the psychosomatic condition of a person by getting only the comfortableness or only the stiffness in the shoulder.
In view of the above, an object of the present invention is to eliminate the problems in the prior art, as described above, and to provide an improved apparatus for measuring an activity of autonomic nerve that is capable of multi-dimensionally evaluating the psychosomatic conditions of a person.
To attain such object, the present invention provides an apparatus for measuring an activity of autonomic nerve, comprising: a sympathetic nerve activity measuring unit; a parasympathetic nerve activity measuring unit; a memory unit; and an evaluation unit, whereby said sympathetic nerve activity measuring unit measures an activity of the sympathetic nerve, said parasympathetic nerve activity measuring unit measures an activity of the parasympathetic nerve antagonistically functioning with the sympathetic nerve, said memory unit stores reference data acting as the criterion for comparing with relation between psychosomatic conditions based on the activity of the sympathetic nerve and the activity of the parasympathetic nerve, and said evaluation unit compares measurement data representing the activity of the sympathetic nerve measured by said sympathetic nerve activity measuring unit and the activity of the parasympathetic nerve measured by said parasympathetic nerve activity measuring unit with said reference data stored in said memory unit for evaluating the relation between psychosomatic conditions. According to the present invention the activity of the sympathetic nerve is measured by the sympathetic nerve activity measuring unit, and the activity of the parasympathetic nerve is measured by the parasympathetic nerve activity measuring unit. Then, the measurement data representing the activities of the sympathetic nerve and parasympathetic nerve is compared in the evaluation unit with the reference data stored in the memory unit for evaluating the relation between psychosomatic conditions. In other words, evaluation of the relation between psychosomatic conditions allows the multi-dimensional seizing of the psychosomatic conditions.
According to one embodiment of the present invention the apparatus further comprises a display unit on which the relation between psychosomatic conditions evaluated by said evaluation unit is displayed. Displaying the relation between psychosomatic conditions on the display unit makes possible to visually recognize and clearly understand the psychosomatic conditions.
According to another embodiment of the present invention the display unit multi-dimensionally displays the relation between psychosomatic conditions evaluated by said evaluation unit. Displaying multi-dimensionally the relation between psychosomatic conditions on the display unit also makes possible to visually recognize and clearly understand the psychosomatic conditions.
According to further embodiment of the present invention the display unit divides the relation between psychosomatic conditions into sections around the center point where said measurement data is matched with the reference data. Therefore, the relation between the psychosomatic conditions is displayed in each of the directions around the center point. Thus, the direction or tendency of the psychosomatic condition as to whether it is in exasperation or in inhibitory can be understood.
According to yet further embodiment of the present invention the display unit classifies the relation between psychosomatic conditions by color. This can facilitate identification and understanding of the relation between psychosomatic conditions.